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Thursday, August 28, 2014

As the season progresses, after a few showers, the plants and trees recover from the dusty hot summers. The new shoots and leaves give way to buds and flowers. The gardens, plains, forests and mountains are dotted with colourful flowers. Even the wild flowers at the roadside are so beautiful to look at. It looks as if Mother Earth(Nature) is smiling at the showers and cool climate through the flowers.

One can enjoy various fragrances of these flowers brought in by the winds.

My garden too becomes colourful with various flowers....

Hibiscuses in various colours....

Bunches of roses .....

The Rain Lilies

Since Nature is giving so much, it is time to say Thank you to the Lord, by offering flowers during our daily prayers.....

So inspired by the riot of colourful flowers, I chose this subject for my sampler....Hope you like it.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

I have embroidered a tree with first shoots. I have used Perle cotton, brown and green colours.Chain, detached chain and few straight stitches were used.

The summers of India are very hot and dusty. The vegetation suffers a lot. It is almost lifeless. Though bigger trees survive very well. After first few showers, the trees and plants give out new shoots. The green colour of these is some how very lively, as if some one has given them a new life. That is what the rains do. No amount of watering by us can achieve that. I have also shown tufts of grass symbolising, new growth or new life or a new beginning powered by the rains. It is like fresh or new hopes awakened by the life giving water. A revival of life I think.

On second thoughts, I could have done more trees instead of just one I suppose.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

So here I am posting my first Square. But before that, the theme I have chosen for this sampler and other details.

This is the first time I am doing an Inchies Sampler. I am thrilled at the challenge of squeezing my expression into such a tiny space.

I have planned for 6 X 8= 48 squares. Horizontal 6 and vertical 8 squares. Each square is 2X2 inches. I was not too sure of 1X1 inch squares as they looked so tiny.

The theme is Celebrating Indian Mosoons. The theme is definitely Indian Monsoon-but the word Celebrating is still in question. I will finalise it after completion of my sampler. Why I am saying that? You will know as I keep posting my squares. In fact I would very much appreciate your help in this matter. Please keep an eye on my sampler as I keep posting each square and do help me in choosing the apt title.

Why this theme? India is a country of villages and is basically dependent on agriculture. Most of our agriculture, rivers, water bodies and villages of South India are dependent on monsoons for water supply. With out Monsoons, we cannot imagine our lives. Oh by the way this year the monsoons are very late and scanty in some parts especially our states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Monsoon season starts some where in June and lasts till September every year. But it does rain now and then till November when winter starts after the festival of Deepavali.

Well I am attempting to cover this Monsoon in my Sampler. How far, I will be successful only you can tell me.

Square 1 :

The fabric, I chose for this project was pure cotton, even weave, thick cloth of white colour. This is how I marked the grid or the squares with a pencil.

I stitched the outlines of the squares with 6 stranded black cotton floss. I have used back stitch.

For my first square, I have chosen a cloud and rain drops. I have used whipped stem stitch using white and blue colour cotton 6 stranded floss for the cloud. The drops are done in blue colour 6 stranded floss. But i was not at all satisfied with the result. It was some how empty.

Then I filled it with Chinese knots using off-white coloured, 6 stranded floss. For now, I have completed it. My stitches(back stitch and whipped stem) are not perfect. I have not used a hoop and the cloth is also very thick.

But I still have some doubts plaguing me. Should I have painted the background of the square light blue to indicate sky?

I wanted to use only hand embroidery int the sampler. But I doubt that I can stick to it as I may be compelled to use a little bit of painting or other media for a better result. What do you say?

Please drop in your comments and suggestions so that I can improve my sampler. Do keep a watch on my blog for further updates. I will keep you posted regularly.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

I have been wanting to do an Inchies Sampler for quite some time now. It is a challenge to fit our creation in such a small space. I have planned for 48 squares. No specific reason for choosing the number.My theme and the few squares I have already worked -I will post shortly. But can anyone give me more insight into these Inchies Samplers; like their origin history and any other info about them? Any info is welcome. Please do share if you know anything about these samplers. I have come across very few of them on the net.

Would anyone like to join me? Mail me on my email...Keep an eye on my blog for the Inchies Sampler.....

Since two days it is hot here. The rains have stopped. Just a few showers in the evening. So it is pleasant to work in the garden, early in the morning or in the evenings. Here is one type of Jasmine. I think it is double Jasmine.

Here are the flowers.

The plant is still in the thick polythene cover I bought from the nursery. But it is flowering profusely. You can see the buds.

I am yet to plant it in my garden. It is better to plant it in the ground, if we want lot of flowers. All jasmines are excellent creepers. But it can be cut and controlled as a bush.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Every Monsoon season, with the first few showers of rain, these small but beautiful flowers appear suddenly overnight as if bursting out from the earth. They are known as Rain lilies, Fairy Lilies, Rain Flowers, Magic lilies Zephyr Lilies or Atamasco lilies.

Zephyranthes as they are known technically, are a species belonging to the Amaryllis family. The name is derived from Zephyrus- the Greek god of the west wind, and Anthos- meaning flower. As far as I have seen them, they are available in colours of white, yellow and pink- may be in different shades within the same colour.

These are perennial bulbs which can withstand very hot summers of our South India. They completely disappear during the summer months and with the first showers, spring back to life, filling the garden with beautiful small flowers, swaying gently on their slender stalks.

They can be propagated easily from bulbs. But even seeds can also be used as I have seen.

I used to have all the three colours. But they spread so much that we kept on weeding them out. Now I am only left with yellow ones. I think I will plant the other colours too. Here is a glimpse of these flowers.

They spread like wild fire and it is difficult to dig out the bulbs from nooks and corners of the garden. Still, I love these flowers when grown in posts or beds as they make a very colourful display.

I am busy with my garden. It requires a lot of work as I have been neglecting it for long. Part by part I am reclaiming and redoing it. Mostly my trees and bushes have been pray to termites. So it is really sad to see the plants/trees die away after being in the garden for long time. We are not able to completely eradicate the termites. So i am again plating those lost plants.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Friends, I know you are all eagerly waiting for this Rangoli. This is for Vara Lakshmi Vratam going to be celebrated on Friday the 8th.

This Rangoli can be drawn for this entire month of Sraavanam, specially for Tuesdays and Fridays.

No Of Dots: 19 in the central row, straight dots, 17, 15, 13, 11, 11, 7, 5, 3, 1 on either side of the center row. You can see them in the pic above. You can also colour the center part too. I have kept this very simple as we do have many things to do on the Puja day.

I have used the Kalsh as the main theme, since we use Kalash during the Puja. Swastika and Lotuses and flowers are liked by Goddess Lakshmi and Gauri alike. The center is Ashta Dala Padma or 8 petaled Lilly or Lotus. I have used yellow(Turmeric), red(Kumkum) and green(leaves) colours denoting the sowbhyagya and auspiciousness. The pots are coloured terracotta colour since earthenware pots are considered best.

Hope you like it. Happy Celebrations and May Goddess Lakshmi bless all of us with health wealth, sowbhagya and abundance.